Monday, October 24, 2011

Globe Trotting: Cricket

The US Sports Institute offers many sports in their programs, from flag football to lacrosse and basketball, but how much do you know about different sports from across the globe? Each week we will be introducing you to a new sport. This week... Cricket!

Cricket was first played way back in the 16th century in England and is now played across many countries in many continents including Australia, Holland and Bangladesh. To learn the rules of cricket, I’ll be honest, you’d be here all day, but the general idea of the game is; if you score more runs than the other team, you win! There are 11 players on each team, one fielding and one batting; but only two batters are actually on the pitch at any one time. The fielding team’s job is to try and take wickets (get the batters out) and once they’ve done this, the teams swap over so the fielding team gets their chance to bat. There are many types of cricket matches, of various lengths; some can last as long as 5 days, but even then the game can end as a tie!

The most number of batting runs scored by one person in one game is 400 by West Indian legend Brian Lara in 2004, quite an achievement! However, Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar holds the record for the most number of runs in his career... 14,965 to date, and he is still going! Muttiah Muralitharan, a Sri Lankan bowler, holds the most number of career wickets (number of people he has got out!), 800 to be precise.

The US Sports Institute offers cricket as a sport specific camp, or as part of their famous multi sport camps. To have a go at the game of cricket, please visit USsportsInstitute.com and sign up today!